$2,750 Headphones

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For almost $2,800, these open back headphones had better be awesome. Actually, the more I think about it, they should send us a set so we can see if they really are worth the amount of money they are asking for these things. Hey, you never know. ;)

Ultrasone Inc., distributor for German headphone manufacturer Ultrasone AG, proudly announces the release of its first open back special edition headphone – Edition 10. The long awaited open back Edition 10 headphone boasts the most luxurious feature set of any special edition headphone to date. With Zebrano wood ear cup inlays, Ethiopian sheepskin leather ear cup pads, Titanium plated drivers, Kevlar coated cables and a limited number of 2010 units available, Ultrasone’s Edition 10 represent the companies most lavishly appointed and highly coveted speciality headphones ever created.
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Monster Cables will have to come out with some ULTRA PREMIUM lines worthy of this headset. $500 gold AND titanium plated audio cable sound fair?
 
Zebrawood is considered a threatened species in its native habitat. Its fast-growing popularity in the West has resulted in some reforestation efforts but this is not keeping up with the pace of destruction.

The extensive use of zebrawood in Prada's flagship Manhattan store in 2002 resulted in protests from environmentalists and a promise from Prada never to use wood from endangered forests again.

Now... what's so special about Ethopian sheepskin?
 
Brilliant marketing guys without spell-checker......

Ultrasone’s Edition 10 represent the companies most lavishly appointed and highly coveted speciality headphones ever created.

It's company's, as in possessive, not companies like plural or many......jesus.:mad:
 
I think Sennheiser actually takes the prize for "Most hugely expensive set of cans" with their now discontinued Orpheus model. They went for something like $15k. Supposed to be great, tho.
 
jellisii said:
I think Sennheiser actually takes the prize for "Most hugely expensive set of cans" with their now discontinued Orpheus model. They went for something like $15k. Supposed to be great, tho.
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your talking about the Sennheiser HE90's and yes they are really good... but I love my baby-"O"'s the Sennheiser HE60's...
 
I actually would shell out the asking price for those. Im a huge Audio Snob and i really like the aesthetics they have going on there. I've paid a lot of money for high end speakers over the years and have felt i got my moneys worth most of the time. If they sound as good as they look, (which they may), i would go for it.
 
FLECOM said:
your talking about the Sennheiser HE90's and yes they are really good... but I love my baby-"O"'s the Sennheiser HE60's...
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Aaahh... didn't realize that they'd renamed them. They're FAR out of my budget so I don't really keep up. I need to keep the drool off of my shirts.
 
Also, bang for the buck (assuming home listening), Sennheiser HD600 kicks almost every other sets of cans around the block. Expensive, but right at the bottom of the diminishing returns. I like the idea of electrostats, but at the end of the day, I can't justify the cost.
 
TheBluePill said:
I actually would shell out the asking price for those. Im a huge Audio Snob and i really like the aesthetics they have going on there. I've paid a lot of money for high end speakers over the years and have felt i got my moneys worth most of the time. If they sound as good as they look, (which they may), i would go for it.
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You may want to look at the Grado RS1i/RS2i as well then. GREAT cans (from reviews) that are gorgeous.

http://www.headphone.com/headphones/grado-rs-1i.php
 
Ethiopians have sheep? Why am I sending less than a $1 a day for some kid to eat soggy rice?
 
What? No mic on those? WTF how am I going to curse out ppl online without a bloody mic! :D
 
Kenworth said:
Once the word "cans" is used, I know the conversation is soon veering towards audiophile nerd rage posts in a thread.
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Won't be from me, but hey, I'm all for provoking a spectacle so that I can sell popcorn to the onlookers.
 
jellisii said:
Won't be from me, but hey, I'm all for provoking a spectacle so that I can sell popcorn to the onlookers.
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Sweet. I'll bring the lawn chairs. I see heated debate over video cards but you can get solid numbers to argue with. "Cans" are just so subjective with sound and aesthetics from what I can tell. I won't even say what I use. I would probably get laughed right out of the forums!
 
magoo said:
They eat the rice so they can catch the sheep and shear them.....jeez.:eek:
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Close: They eat the rice so they can catch the sheep and share them :D

(third-world country birth control FTW!)
 
Kenworth said:
Sweet. I'll bring the lawn chairs. I see heated debate over video cards but you can get solid numbers to argue with. "Cans" are just so subjective with sound and aesthetics from what I can tell. I won't even say what I use. I would probably get laughed right out of the forums!
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This is true, and part of that is that we all have different levels of hearing damage and none of our ears are tuned the same. If there was a "this will work 100% of the time for everyone" frequency tuning, there wouldn't be nearly so many choices on the market. Sennheiser hits it the closest for me (and many others), but at the end of the day, it's "well, is it acceptable to you?".

And while I have wine tastes for cans, my beer budget prevents me from having anything close to the HD600s. I've been looking at some of the sub $100 cans from Sennheiser (545s, I think), and the ones that were reviewed by [H], http://hardocp.com/article/2010/06/10/audiotechnica_athad700_headphone_review/
 
jellisii said:
And while I have wine tastes for cans, my beer budget prevents me from having anything close to the HD600s. I've been looking at some of the sub $100 cans from Sennheiser (545s, I think), and the ones that were reviewed by [H], http://hardocp.com/article/2010/06/10/audiotechnica_athad700_headphone_review/
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Sennheiser's HD-280 are awesome for the price, I've owned a pair for a month now and wouldn't think twice of purchasing them again if they were lost, damaged, stolen, or whatever. In fact, I might actually buy an even more expensive set just because the HD 280s are so good, I figure it has to get better up until the diminishing returns hit.
 
jellisii said:
I think Sennheiser actually takes the prize for "Most hugely expensive set of cans" with their now discontinued Orpheus model. They went for something like $15k. Supposed to be great, tho.
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Actually, I've seen a pair of $100k headphones in an audiophile mag before. They came with their own separate amplifiers. I tried to find a link, but didn't have any luck. I'm guessing they never sold LOL.
 
Why is this even news? Ultrasone is a legit company, they're not out there trying to scam people. I've heard their previous $1000 cans and they sounded very good.

I hugely enjoyed my Grado RS-1's through a modified Melos SHA Gold Reference amplifier when I had them - those were just a bit less than these headphones are.
 
Also, I've heard the Sennheiser He90's ($15,000 headphones). They're pretty sweet! But Stax Omega 2's are 99% there for much less, as is the "Baby O".
 
computerpro3 said:
Also, I've heard the Sennheiser He90's ($15,000 headphones). They're pretty sweet! But Stax Omega 2's are 99% there for much less, as is the "Baby O".
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I'm not sure what the big fuss is about over $2750 Ultrasones. The HE90s have been out for years, at a significant price premium. They even did (IIRC) a limited production run for new ones, organized by Head-Fi. Stax O2s hit around $2k, and HE60s at $1500, so this isn't something crazy. Even K1000s are hitting close to $1k now that they are discontinued.

Kevlar coated cable is probably for microphonics (so they don't make noises if you touch the cable).

Everything has its high end options. Like here. Most of us are running Phenom 2 or i5 or i7, but there are some people with $3k+ rigs with phase change, SR-2, dual hexacore Xeons, 48 gigs of RAM, and quad SLI 480GTXs. Most headphone people are running $500 cans, but there's the occasional person with the fanciest setup possible.

The guy with $3k headphones might think the guy with a $3k computer is crazy, and vice versa. Doesn't mean either of them is crazy, just that they want the best of the best.

I have to say, I'm curious what $3k electrodynamic headphones sound like. I've heard the Big O and the Baby O and the Omega2s, and they were all great, but are all electrostatic. AFAIK, the next most expensive electrodynamics are the K1000s and the GS-1000s, both around the $1k price point.
 
nalc said:
I'm not sure what the big fuss is about over $2750 Ultrasones. The HE90s have been out for years, at a significant price premium. They even did (IIRC) a limited production run for new ones, organized by Head-Fi. Stax O2s hit around $2k, and HE60s at $1500, so this isn't something crazy. Even K1000s are hitting close to $1k now that they are discontinued.

Kevlar coated cable is probably for microphonics (so they don't make noises if you touch the cable).

Everything has its high end options. Like here. Most of us are running Phenom 2 or i5 or i7, but there are some people with $3k+ rigs with phase change, SR-2, dual hexacore Xeons, 48 gigs of RAM, and quad SLI 480GTXs. Most headphone people are running $500 cans, but there's the occasional person with the fanciest setup possible.

The guy with $3k headphones might think the guy with a $3k computer is crazy, and vice versa. Doesn't mean either of them is crazy, just that they want the best of the best.

I have to say, I'm curious what $3k electrodynamic headphones sound like. I've heard the Big O and the Baby O and the Omega2s, and they were all great, but are all electrostatic. AFAIK, the next most expensive electrodynamics are the K1000s and the GS-1000s, both around the $1k price point.
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Yeah, I've never heard a $3k dynamic headphone.

What are the PS1000's going for nowadays? Think they were around $1600 when I got out of the ratrace and climbing rapidly.
 
computerpro3 said:
Yeah, I've never heard a $3k dynamic headphone.

What are the PS1000's going for nowadays? Think they were around $1600 when I got out of the ratrace and climbing rapidly.
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HP-1000s are funky. They're the old discontinued aluminum Joe Grado cans, with a different sound from the newer John Grado cans. Occasionally pop up FS.

I don't recall pricing on PS-1000 or GS-1000.

I have been out of the ratrace for awhile too. I hop on head-fi from time to time, but I haven't been to a meet since the original National one back four or five years ago.

I picked up a used, one-owner, low-hour pair of AKG K340s for $100 back in 2005 or 2006 and haven't looked back. I have no need or desire for something nicer than the K340s. Electrostatic tweeters and electrodynamic wooders = win.
 
TheBluePill said:
I actually would shell out the asking price for those. Im a huge Audio Snob and i really like the aesthetics they have going on there. I've paid a lot of money for high end speakers over the years and have felt i got my moneys worth most of the time. If they sound as good as they look, (which they may), i would go for it.
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So this means you don't use coat hanger wire for your stereo speakers?
 
I think they start shipping next week so there should be some impressions up within the next couple weeks on head-fi.
 
There's no doubt high-end audio equipment can be amazing, especially compared to the crappy plastic speakers and earbuds most people are used to.

Unfortunately, high-end audio is one of those areas where the large amount of BS floating around makes an informed purchasing decision very difficult. And as price approaches infinity, the science/BS ratio approaches zero.
 
Give me some RS-2s, HD 800, or the Denon equivilant.

Ill be just as happy.

Audio has such diminishing returns that i gave up on it....
 
I bought a set of PRO750 Ultrasone 400$ cans for 200$ when they did the color switch and wanted to push out all the older blue sets. Best 200$ I ever spent! I love these things. They have lasted 2x longer than my Audio-Tech headphones that everyone loves, and they sound much better.
 
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